Strep Throat News and Research

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Acute inflammation of the structures of the pharynx and tonsils, also known as tonsillopharyngitis, represents a common condition that is usually encountered in outpatients seeking healthcare interventions. Sore throat and fever are the dominant symptoms of this condition which usually follows a benign course that resolves without any antimicrobial treatment.

Scientists discover trigger that turns strep infections into devastating disease

Houston Methodist infectious disease scientists have discovered a previously unknown trigger that turns a relatively run-of-the-mill infection into a devastatingly ravenous, flesh-eating disease.

18 Feb 2019

Understanding of metal-free enzymes used by bacteria could lead to new effective antibiotics

Some bacterial pathogens, including those that cause strep throat and pneumonia, are able to create the components necessary to replicate their DNA without the usually required metal ions.

19 Oct 2018

Mice study shows antibiotics are not always necessary to cure sepsis

Biochemists, microbiologists, drug discovery experts and infectious disease doctors have teamed up in a new study that shows antibiotics are not always necessary to cure sepsis in mice.

17 Oct 2018

Spurred by convenience, millennials often spurn the ‘family doctor’ model

Calvin Brown doesn’t have a primary care doctor — and the peripatetic 23-year-old doesn’t want one.

9 Oct 2018

UH researchers win $3.5 million grant to develop technology that combats multi-drug resistant bacteria

Two UH researchers have won a five-year, $3.5 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to develop technology that will quickly suggest the most promising combinations of antibiotics to kill certain resistant bacteria.

30 Aug 2018

World's major heart surgery organizations call for effective strategies to treat rheumatic heart disease

Experts from the world's major heart surgery organizations-including The Society of Thoracic Surgeons, the American Association for Thoracic Surgery, the Asian Society for Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery, and the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery-are calling for urgent action to develop and implement effective strategies for treating rheumatic heart disease, which affects 33 million people and kills 320,000 annually.

3 Aug 2018

Reducing length of antibiotic course decreases risk of drug resistance

Treatments using antibiotics should stop as soon as possible to prevent patients passing the "tipping point" of becoming resistant to their effects, new research has shown.

10 Jul 2018

Hoping to see your doctor via telemedicine? Here’s a quick guide.

Tucked into the federal budget law Congress passed in February was a provision that significantly expands the use of telemedicine — long a hyped health care reform, and now poised to go mainstream within five to 10 years.

9 May 2018

Women of childbearing age with rheumatic heart disease face double danger

Today, most people in the United States rarely think of rheumatic heart disease (RHD)-or the rheumatic fever that causes it-as more than a historical footnote.

28 Mar 2018

UIC scientists identify new chemical compound to stop bacteria from causing sickness

A study published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry is the first to describe a signaling pathway that affects communication -- a process called quorum sensing -- between Streptococcus bacteria cells.

6 Feb 2018

Researchers propose different approach to beat antibiotic-resistant superbugs

Got a sore throat? The doctor may write a quick prescription for penicillin or amoxicillin, and with the stroke of a pen help diminish public health and your own future health by helping bacteria evolve resistance to antibiotics.

30 Dec 2017

Researchers identify challenges to understanding and classifying mental disorders

Mental illnesses, such as major depression, bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder, affect nearly 1 in 5 adults in the United States, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Many aspects of these illnesses remain something of a mystery, despite the progress made in understanding them by researchers studying these disorders in the last half century.

7 Dec 2017

Overabundance of gut bacteria may exacerbate pain in patients with sickle cell disease

An overabundance of the bacteria Veillonella in the digestive tract may increase pain in patients with sickle cell disease (SCD).

8 Nov 2017

Flat-fee primary care helps fill niche for Texas’ uninsured

Darrell Kenyon had been punting for years on various medical issues — fatigue, headaches, mood swings. The 43-year-old uninsured carpenter was particularly worried about his blood pressure, which ran high when he checked it at the grocery store. Then he heard about a different type of physician practice, one that provided regular primary care for a monthly fee.

3 Oct 2017

Study identifies two genes involved in invasive group A Streptococcus infections

Group A Streptococcus bacteria cause a variety of illnesses that range from mild nuisances like strep throat to life-threatening conditions including pneumonia, toxic shock syndrome and the flesh-eating disease formally known as necrotizing fasciitis.

22 Sep 2017

Houston Methodist researchers find pathway for treating diseases caused by flesh-eating bacteria

Researchers at Houston Methodist have solved a 100-year-old mystery, providing them a possible key to unlock a pathway for treating diseases caused by flesh-eating bacteria. This is timely news, given the current dangers lurking in the debris and destruction left behind by Hurricane Harvey's floodwaters that destroyed tens of thousands of homes in Texas.

19 Sep 2017

New report says completing a course of antibiotics even after symptoms abate is overrated

Antibiotics are a boon to mankind and as more and more microorganisms are developing a resistance to these drugs, researchers are delving deeper into the mechanisms of this resistance. It is a commonly held view that once begun, a course of antibiotics should be completed to prevent the emergence of resistance among the microbes.

26 Jul 2017

Harris Health System expert offers guidance to prevent drug-induced photosensitivity

Wanting a tan or simply enjoying the outdoors during the summer can expose skin to the effects of ultraviolet rays- a problem complicated for people taking certain medications, warns a Harris Health System expert.

10 Jul 2017

Engineered nanosponges can reduce severity of infections caused by group A Streptococcus

In a new study, researchers show that engineered nanosponges that are encapsulated in the membranes of red blood cells can reduce the severity of infections caused by group A Streptococcus, the bacteria responsible for strep throat and life-threatening infections such as necrotizing fasciitis, or flesh-eating disease.

25 Apr 2017

Case Western Reserve and Q2 Pharma partner to develop antivirulence agents that disarm superbugs

Case Western Reserve University and Q2 Pharma Ltd., an Israeli biopharmaceutical company, have signed a two-year option to license small molecule, antivirulence technology to potentially treat bacterial infections such as methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), the first known scientific effort of its kind.

31 Mar 2017